In honor of the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (May 17, 1954), I thought that I'd post a picture of the historic Varsity Theater in Chapel Hill. It's my understanding that the Varsity was the object of a civil rights protest in the early 1960s.
I thought of the building in particular yesterday evening as I was watching a really powerful PBS show on the Freedom Riders. Shamefully, I knew substantially less than I should have about the Freedom Riders' experience in Mississippi -- I guess that's partly a by-product of having spent so many years in Alabama, that what I knew was the Alabama part of the history.
Anyway, as they were talking about the bus station in Birmingham -- which, unfortunately I failed to take any pictures of when I was back there in February [note to self -- that's what I get for focusing on all the monuments around the Linn Park] -- I thought about just how much life has changed. People ride on buses all the time without giving a second thought to the Freedom Riders. The experience of those people and those of us who ride on buses now are unimaginably different.
That's what put it in mind that I should take a picture of the Varsity today, to illustrate yet another institution that is unimaginably different from the movie theater in that same building back in the 1950s.
All of this reminds me of another theater that occupies a very important place in my heart and in my writing -- and of a very important anniversary that's coming up on us in just a few weeks.
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